Rane
by FinalNight531
Summary: Plot centers around the Dark Jedi Rane.
1. Chapter 1 Silent Knight

CH. I – Silent Knight  
  
I watched the stars in the night sky fly past at a blinding rate, completely oblivious to what I should be focusing on...the kill.  
  
It was what I had been to told to do, it was the purpose of this "assignment", in a way, it was the deciding factor of whether or not my continued breathing would in fact continue I thought to myself as I watched him.  
  
A Republic diplomat I had been told, that's all I had been told....as much as I didn't like the idea of being sent to strike someone down without knowing what I am up against I had very little say in the matter.  
  
Master Fenox had given me my orders, I must execute them, the penalty for failure is death.  
  
I couldn't seem to get that fact out of my head, not because I was afraid to die, by comparison to others I did not have that much left to live for, but the simple thought of that young apprentice back at the academy, the way she....I was becoming distracted again, I really need to quit that.  
  
I was soon brought back to reality by the movement of the other passenger in the compartment with us, by us I mean myself and my mark, I had been studying him for a while now, his movements and mannerisms, trying to sum up my odds.  
  
Presently my odds look good, a little to good, this one looked as old as the Republic itself and diplomats don't usually travel by themselves, but after the fall of the Republic fleet in the attempt to destroy the Star Forge, they were desperate and becoming more and more secretive, may be he was try to sneak by...it mattered not, I had found him, it obviously hadn't worked.  
  
We were alone now as the other passenger had gotten up for who knows what and left.  
  
Now is my chance to prove myself and I prepared myself to strike, it must be quick and quiet, as little noise as possible.  
  
For a moment our eyes met and I knew his time had come.  
  
The last thing he saw was likely a rushing mass of black coming towards him as I leapt to strike, maybe even a flash of red, no one will ever really know what he saw, but as for what I saw, I can be sure.  
  
A perfectly placed slash across his neck ended his career as a diplomat, or anything else for that matter.  
  
The placement of the slash, instantly lethal, gave me a sense of accomplishment, the job I do may be considered, but evil is subjective, regardless of whether what I do is right, I can be assured I do it well.  
  
I knew he was dead, he had no time to scream or make any noise – not a sounds to shatter the quiet clam of the night...damn I'm good, besides I could feel it, when you've seen as much death as I have you can sense it, but when you've seen as much death as I have it also diminishes the thrill...damn.  
  
Quick and quiet I thought to myself as I smiled under my hood, one slash and done, hell, this was too easy.  
  
Now it was a matter of getting off this hover train...  
  
An old adage states that you should never say things cannot get any worse, because they will, it became clear to me at that moment you should never state that something was to easy, because at that moment something or things will come to complicate the hell out of it....and something did.  
  
In the doorway of the compartment stood the passenger who had left earlier, accompanied by 5 Republic soldiers holding rifles.  
  
Just another passenger.....good call Rane, I thought to myself as I watched the man now holding a blue bladed saber and staring me down.  
  
"I could sense your evil, Dark Jedi" he said to me in a monotone voice.  
  
I stared and said "You knew I was here and you left the one you were protecting? You must be one hell of a guardian" I said putting emphasis on the term guardian "Are you always this good or am I just special?" I said to him.  
  
The smirk on my face was quickly removed when I realized that I had a Jedi who's aura was steadily becoming stronger which is a bad sign between myself and my way out...this is not good.  
  
"You could run for the door behind you fool, but you wouldn't make it" he told me.  
  
There's a door behind me? Said to myself and turned my head slightly, so there is...damn.  
  
Six of them, one of me...nope, aint gonna happen I thought as I made a break for the door, I figure I had a better chance of those soldiers missing me than I had of not missing them with a thrown lightaber at such a close range.  
  
Lucky for me I made it through that door and sealed it, allowing myself to rest against the wall to collect myself from my death defying leap through a doorway in the midst of laser fire.  
  
Wait a second I thought, he has a light...at about that time that same blue saber beam came through the door to greet me and I proceeded to get just as far away from that door as I could as fast as I could, I may be good with a saber but I'm no match for a master, Fenox made that painfully clear in "teaching me my place", something akin to being beaten on with a semi-sharp excuse for a sword for hours on end.  
  
I found myself now in a storage compartment that had 2 floors, should I go up to avoid him I asked myself, my answer quickly being delivered by the sound of a saber cutting metal from behind me, that answer being that it didn't matter where I went all that mattered was that I got there really damned quick.  
  
I reached the door at the other end of the compartment as the Jedi and his lackeys came through the front door.  
  
From seemingly nowhere a small round object fell onto my head, I picked it up to find that it was a thermal detonator, taking advantage of this I did what any reasonable Dark Jedi faced with almost certain death would do...I dealt it back tenfold.  
  
The detonator in one glorious flash and one hell of an explosion and sent the soldiers, or what was left of them to the ground and gave the train a new skylight with which to attract new passengers in lieu of the fact that most of them likely wouldn't return after realizing 6 people had been killed and a compartment fragged in just one train ride.  
  
"Someone up there must like me" I thought.  
  
The quiet "Shit!" from above me revealed that secret admirer to be an Republic grenadier with an open pocket that had apparently fallen open, on his grenade belt.  
  
"Or not" I said as I stuck my lightsaber through the ceiling and finished him.  
  
I could feel the train slowing and I opened the back door to see the soft grasses and open air.  
  
From behind me I heard something stir and turned to see that Jedi master standing again, injured but standing.  
  
"Assassins don't leave survivors" he said to me "Are you always this good or am I just special?" he smirked at me.  
  
Okay, now I'm pissed I though as I drew my saber and turned it on, this was it, my mark dead albeit with a few complications and a master's lightsaber as a trophy, how much better could this get?  
  
That apprentice from the academy would be nice...."Dammit quit thinking with the wrong head Rane" I thought to myself and attacked the Jedi.  
  
Maybe it was because he was injured, maybe it was because I really am that good, but he fell and I took his saber.  
  
Now to get off this train, really.  
  
By now we had slowed enough that I could jump and be relatively assured of a safe landing, hey I had just killed a master I reasoned, whats a 5 foot drop?  
  
And drop I did, right on my ass.  
  
"No one saw it, I'm still good" I said as I stood and looked around.  
  
I walked to a stream and kneeled to drink before contacting Master Fenox to tell him of my success.  
  
As I activated my holopad I couldn't help but wonder what he would say, would it be a "well done" or did an execution await me for being discovered?  
  
Fenox's image came up on the holopad and he spoke  
  
"Is it done my apprentice?"  
  
"Yes master, it is done" I replied and awaited his next question.  
  
To my surprise no question came, simply a "well done" and an order to return to Korriban, I was needed to train new apprentices, and on top of that, I was being given a new "assignment"  
  
With that his image disappeared and I sat back to wonder what "assignment" awaited me on Korriban, only to decide to that whatever it was there wasn't anything I could do about it, that being said I had better things to worry about, I though to myself with a smirk, like that young apprentice on Korriban I'd be seeing so soon... 


	2. Chapter 2 Remenission and Realization

CH.II – Remenission and Realization  
  
I ran my fingers through her hair as I lay next to her in the dark.  
  
Her name is Morgana.  
  
The first thing I did upon returning to Korriban was to find her, the young apprentice, I had to get her off my mind, now she was all I could think about...once again I've managed to flip the bitch on my intended goal, but for once I don't regret it.  
  
As I lay here I almost feel...like I am capable of feeling, which in itself is a feeling I haven't felt in so long...  
  
For once the loneliness inside me is dead or at least dormant, I'd kill to feel this way again, and if anything threatens her I'm sure I will.  
  
I must have been watching her sleep for hours, all the while thinking, how I wish I just could go to sleep but at the same time knowing there's no way in hell I could, to much going on in my mind.  
  
Feelings I haven't felt in so long...not since I was young, feelings of warmth, feelings of peacefulness if only for this night, feelings of...everything I've wanted to feel for so long.  
  
Not since childhood have I felt like this, before I knew hate to the degree I know it now, before the drive for vengeance took me from everything I knew, before...before he took everything I loved...love...the only thing stronger than hate.  
  
Could this be love I feel for Morgana now?  
  
Has it been so long that I don't even recognize it anymore?  
  
No, this is stupid, love is beyond me, at least it is now, this is just foolish desire talking  
  
All I know is hate now, hate and anger, hate and anger and emptiness, its what drives me, what keeps me living....no, existing.  
  
My master tells me to hold onto this anger from the past, use it to my advantage, and its what I've done, maybe its what has gotten me this far, the title of advanced, apprenticeship to one of the best saber fighters of my time; maybe it was fate....Shit, I don't know, right now I don't really care.  
  
I'm alive, and at the same time, really alive, for these past years I've simply existed, but now I live as well.  
  
I don't care what Fenox says, I don't live for him, I live for me, and right now I've managed to find a place where I'm content, more than content actually, I'm not going to ruin by letting anger at what my fath...that bastard did.  
  
Like I said, it drives me to exist, being with her drives me to live, I like that better.  
  
For the first time in a long time my mind has stopped plotting, stopped thinking about anything I've been ordered to do.  
  
Thinking like this will get me killed if I keep it up for to long, but on the other hand I could die feeling like this and be happy, revenge doesn't matter anymore.  
  
And there the case is made and proved, maybe this is why the Jedi say love is dangerous...no, I don't love her, there's just passion between us.  
  
I can't love her, I don't love her....Do I? 


	3. Chapter 3 Not by Force, but by Guile

CH. III - Not by Force, But by Guile  
  
(Note: I know this title isnt as good as the others, but if your by chance british, or know the british military, it may make more sense...motto of the british SBS, equivalent of the U.S. SEALS)  
  
I stood watching the apprentices train, stumble and fail, all the while wondering who in their right mind or otherwise thought I had the patience for this.  
  
After countless hours of demonstrations and reprimands most still hadn't gotten it, and myself and the other instructors where losing hope for them and for us, simply making it through without killing them all out of frustration and sheer boredom.  
  
From the back of the training room one of the few apprentices who was getting the feel for his saber made his biggest mistake by issuing a challenge to one of the knights training him.  
  
As is custom the knight didn't back down and in a few quick strokes had finished the apprentice.  
  
"Master, the apprentices are having delusions of adequacy again" I called over my shoulder to Master Fenox, who was supposed to be in charge of all this.  
  
"Has yet another fallen?" he asked, "Yes" I replied "a foolish challenge to our good knight Arkus here.  
  
A thoughtful yet decidedly unsettling look appeared on Master Fenox's face, and he announced it was time for another demonstration.  
  
A collective sigh was issued from students and instructors alike, I had been training them for 3 days now and I had already had enough, others like Arkus I though, had been here for weeks.  
  
"Alright my students" said Fenox in a menacing tone that was tinged with a sense of anticipation "After all the demonstrations and lectures less than a quarter of you have proven yourselves worthy, this will not do.  
  
But such a large number of you...could it be my fault as a teacher, or the fault of the knights under me?  
  
I don't know...but another demonstration is at hand, Rane, Arkus, to the ring.  
  
Arkus and I went to the wall to take practice swords but were halted by Fenox's voice, "I told you to proceed to the ring, not to the wall"  
  
"But master..." Arkus was interrupted by Fenox  
  
"You will do as I say, you and Rane shall fight, no practice weapons, my apprentice against Master Velion's apprentice.  
  
These recruits need to see just how much one slip in a fight can cost you, and I myself am in the mood for some sport.  
  
I looked at Arkus, he looked to me, we had very little choice, one died or we both died.  
  
We stepped into the ring and Arkus's saber flared to life at both ends, as did the single blade of mine, and we prepared to fight.  
  
Arkus was a guardian, I was sentinel, but I was advanced, the difference in our robes showed it.  
  
Arkus wore the customary grey and black while mine were all black, other than that our robes were the same.  
  
Same mask to hide the bottom half of our faces, same medallion.  
  
Arkus was first to make a move a slash downward, followed with a slash upward with the other side of his double blade and forced the blade of my saber over my head.  
  
I kicked his chest and brought my saber back to striking position and went for a slash to his head. He blocked and brought his saber's blade upwards.  
  
I moved back quickly and saw an open spot on Arkus's chest.  
  
I knew I must take it and thrust my saber forward into the center of his chest.  
  
His eyes widened for a second as my blade pierced him.  
  
I turned my saber off and he fell to the ground, dead before he hit.  
  
"Well done Rane" said Fenox from said form behind me "Master Velion will be so disappointed".  
  
He places Arkus's saber in my hand and walked away, leaving myself and the two remaining teachers to instruct.  
  
I ordered two of the students to take Arkus's body away and listened to the endless flood of questions on how to "strike like you did" or "be as good as you are".  
  
I simply told them to practice, with the truth being I didn't know...saber fighting came naturally to me, same as pistols did, I was inherently good with them.  
  
I watched them go about practicing their techniques, for hours until Fenox came to get me, taking me to the main room of out academy.  
  
"I have a new assignment for you Rane" he said with an intent look.  
  
"You must infiltrate, deceive and kill".  
  
"Nothing new for me Master, but what is it I will be infiltrating this time?"  
  
I thought you'd never ask" he said "A Republic research facility, mostly scientist, Republic soldiers on guard, nothing special.  
  
But there is something you must accomplish and two people you must kill, the lead scientist and a rather sensitive young Jedi.  
  
As for what you must accomplish, set beacons for a gunship strike on the facility.  
  
"I see Master" I said, reading the expression on his face there was something he wasn't telling me, something important.  
  
"Now master, what is it you're not telling me?"  
  
"Sharp as ever Rane, good to see you haven't lost your instinct, now about that young Jedi, as I said he is rather sensitive, he will be able to detect any force power used inside the base, he will raise and alarm and you will likely be caught"  
  
I started with a slight resentment".  
  
" No use of the force whatsoever?"  
  
"Whatsoever" he said.  
  
"You may not use it to get your way inside the base, kill anyone inside the base, you can't even use your saber, energy damper grids to contain energy released from the plant would render it just about as useful and a shock stick.  
  
But to remedy this I have a gift for you, a type of sword, given to members of the Bladeborn, which I believe you would be a good candidate for someday."  
  
With that he wished my luck and placed the tremor sword in my hand.  
  
It was perfectly balanced and I stopped to admire its beauty, the onyx glint from the hilt and guard were amazing, truly a masterpiece for any normal sword smith.  
  
I attached it to my belt and headed for the docking bay, as with every assignment this one must be executed quickly and quietly.  
  
But unlike all the others I must do this without the help of my greatest ally.  
  
Thoughts of Morgana, that feeling, everything else filled my head as I stepped aboard and I hoped that when I saw her this morning wasn't the last time I would ever see her.  
  
But for now I must focus on accomplishing this, without my saber, without the force, on my own.  
  
Not by Force, but by guile... 


	4. Chapter 4 Infiltrate Deceive Destroy

CH. IV – Infiltrate. Deceive. Destroy  
  
I stepped of the starship and onto the landing platform.  
  
The Sith pilot of our stolen civilian ship murmured "Good Luck, you'll need it" and with that I was left alone on docking platform 83-C.  
  
I looked around me and saw a cab hovering around looking for a fare.  
  
"Outskirts of town, Republic research facility"  
  
He started the small craft going, asking me what my business there was, as well as other questions that were equally meaningless to him.  
  
I answered him with lies, and he must have picked up on the disinterested tone, as he soon ceased.  
  
Deceive, done.  
  
The ride out there was long, agonizingly long, watching the stars fly past as I had done on my first assignment.  
  
I was discovered then, I cannot be now, I will be killed for sure.  
  
It seems that since then something of a killer instinct has awoken in me, I can focus much easier, and I'm a good deal more sensitive, to noises, to light, much more aware.  
  
I wondered how I would do this with none of my force abilities, I cannot choke for a silent kill, I cannot dominate the mind on a guard should he see me...Fenox knew this would be a great test of my skills, a formal promotion to assassin maybe?  
  
That would be an honor, yet another reason to do this right the first time, aside from the most obvious reason, to keep alive.  
  
As he began to decelerate I drew one of my pistols, for an assassin leaves no survivors, but then put it back.  
  
By the time he even realizes I might have had anything to do with this I'll be long gone I reasoned.  
  
I paid the man his credits and stepped from the cab into the cool night air.  
  
I headed towards the forest behind the facility and once in the forest, activated my stealth unit, no fence, there must be guards patrolling.  
  
I made my way through the forest slowly, watching the ground for motion sensors and the like. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed slight distortion in the moons reflection in a nearby pond.  
  
It was small, very small, I'm surprised I caught it in the first place.  
  
Only a centimeter of so wide, as I examined it more closely I noticed the distortion formed a gird over the pond, and the lines seemed to pass onto the ground.  
  
Then it hit me...a motion sensor grid, that's why there wasn't a fence and no guards...dammit...if I had tripped it then I was done for.  
  
I looked to see if the distortions, what I now knew to be sensor beams, ran my way, they didn't...I breather a sigh of relief but at the same time was feeling quite frustrated, I can't bypass it, I don't know how far it stretches and since I cant see it all that well, I was lucky I got this far.  
  
I can't go over it...or can I?  
  
I looked above me at the branches, if I climbed the trees, I could go from branch to branch, right over the grid and never be caught. Damn I'm good I said to myself as I began to climb the nearest tree, only to fall off, and be forced to try again.  
  
Like I have long held, gravity is not my friend...  
  
As I passed from branch to branch I had a great feeling of worth inside, like a master assassin, climbing through the trees to reach his mark.  
  
Maybe me time was at hand and as I has speculated earlier that this is my test, my shot at being made an assassin in the ranks, instead of eyes of the teachers...and my victims I thought to myself with a smile hidden under the mask that covers the lower half of us Dark Jedi's faces.  
  
After 10 or so minutes of going from branch to branch I could see the lights of the facility and as I reached the forests edge I stopped to look over the building I was to infiltrate.  
  
The large front doors were being watched by cameras as well as 2 guards, the front doors were never really an option but its always good to have all your exits...er, entrances covered.  
  
The door to the underground garage was out to, cameras there as well.  
  
There were vents on the sides of the building but they were high up, just below the roof.  
  
The roof...that was my way in, I could see two guards patrolling up there but they were not a problem, after watching them long enough with my electrobinoculars I knew their patrol pattern, if I killed one I would have 7 seconds to hide his body and set myself up to kill the other.  
  
The problem was hiding the body of the first, I couldn't just throw it over the side, I'm sure that when the cameras saw a body fall from the roof with a cut throat that it would cause a bit of a stir.  
  
There were boxes he past on his patrol, I could hide it there, this didn't have to be good, just so he couldn't been seen by someone on the opposite side.  
  
That's how I would do it I told myself.  
  
I took the grappling equipment that I had been given and made my way across the open space between the forest and the facility...the camera operators can't raise the alarm on what they can't see, and thanks to my stealth unit, what they can't see is me.  
  
I shot the hook to the top of the roof and began to climb up the side of the building, finally reaching the top and climbing over the railing just as my seven second window opened.  
  
I quickly drew the sword I had been given and in one quick movement cut the guards throat and quickly but quietly set his body behind the boxes.  
  
3 seconds left by my count...I had done well, and after a count of 3 the other guard was looking this way, and just like I was expecting, came to investigate his missing comrade.  
  
Perfect I thought, so long as he doesn't see a body and raise the alarm before I can kill him.  
  
I waited till he was close and shot around the side of the box and drove my sword through his back and out his front.  
  
He dropped without a sound except for a faint sigh-like sound, once I was sure he was dead I placed my heel on his back and pulled my sword from him, examining the blade, now red.  
  
It was sharper than any sword I had seen before and very well balanced for use with one hand or two.  
  
I made my way towards the door on the rooftop only to find it was locked from the inside, the pack of security spikes I had on my left leg would do me no good.  
  
"Damn" I muttered, the first word I had spoken since I left the cab.  
  
Now I had to find another way in, which took time, and if these guards had to report in then time was something I didn't have too much of.  
  
I remembered the vents on the side below the roof and decided it was worth a try.  
  
I grabbed the rope attached to the hook and lowered myself some, level with the vent and started swinging, when I gained enough momentum I straightened my legs out and swung full force towards the vent cover. It broke against the force and I shot inside the ventilation shaft.  
  
Now I was in...Infiltrate, done, Deceive, done...now onto destroy.  
  
I made my way through the shaft, thankful every meter of the way for the sound damper on my stealth unit. I looked through grates as I went over them, most positioned over hallways, another over the barracks, which happened to be full of soldiers...if that grate fell, that would be bad.  
  
My first priority is to find the lead scientist, its late in the night...I need to find the housing wing of this facility.  
  
As I passed yet another grate the blue glow of computer screens caught my attention and I stopped.  
  
I listened...no voices, no breathing, empty...  
  
I removed the grate and dropped down into the room, a few computers were on the walls and one on a desk, with the designation "Security".  
  
The rifles, pistols and grenades on the wall racks confirmed the computers designation, this was indeed a security station, and just what I was looking for.  
  
I accessed the computer with a card I found next to the terminal and uploaded the schematics into my datapad, then I removed the card, placed it back where I had found it and climbed into the ventilation shaft again.  
  
After a number of wrong turns and muttered expletives I found where I needed to be.  
  
Right above a desk in his room.  
  
Too easy I though...experience quickly reminded me that more than likely there was something here to complicate this, I just hoped it wasn't another master Jedi, or a squad of Republic troops right outside the door.  
  
I went still and listened, I could hear the sound a camera moving, scanning the room, it sounded close, may I could break it I though.  
  
Closer inspection revealed that it was under the grate, positioned there so that the grate could not be opened without the camera seeing.  
  
"Dammit, they're just getting better and better at this" I said with a smirk as I readied an ion grenade I had brought with me, great for knocking out droids, better for knocking out electronic surveillance devices.  
  
I placed the grenade on the grate and turned away as well as moved back a bit.  
  
It would be loud, yes, but with the equipment I had presently it was the best I could do, all they would know is that a camera was out, it would wake the scientist, yes, but..."Something is wrong" I said as I sat back and realized that all I heard was the camera moving, no breathing, and I could see the man on his bed.  
  
I looked at the camera, the transmitter on the back of it was gone and as I examined the grate I noticed the bolts holding it down were gone...  
  
With the transmitter on the camera gone it was no good so I dropped into the room, with one of my assassins pistols in each hand.  
  
I took aim around the room upon landing and found I was alone.  
  
I proceeded to the bed and looked at my mark...and realized I was all too alone...he was already dead, shot in the chest, close range, a few inches at most.  
  
"Well, I obviously didn't kill you" I said to the dead scientist "I must not be so alone after all"... 


	5. Chapter 5 Infiltrate Destroy Be Deceive...

CH. V – Infiltrate. Destroy. Be Deceived.  
  
After my disturbing discovery in the scientists room I raised myself back into the ventilation shaft and went back to the security station to look at the feed from the camera in his room.  
  
I found it occupied this time, a single soldier, who had foolishly sealed the door and thereby sealed his fate, for he had nowhere to run.  
  
I slipped my hand through the grate and took aim for the back of his head.  
  
A beam issued forth from by pistols, almost silently, and hit its mark sending the soldier forward onto the desk. I lowered myself into the room and used one of my computer spikes to jam the locking mechanism on the door and sat down to look at that camera footage.  
  
I brought up the interface and looked for the only camera that wasn't sending a feed and rewinded it.  
  
The footage was the same, camera panning back and forth, watching the room and its inhabitant.  
  
A few seconds later I noticed a shadow in the picture, the shadow of a hand, then the hand became visible, along with the other hand...holding a lightsaber.  
  
Then the feed went dead.  
  
The hands were in gloves, black gloves holding a lightsaber, and the Jedi don't use assassins...I was truly not alone.  
  
I went from camera to camera, looking for the Jedi I was sent to kill.  
  
One of the feeds was designated "Jedi".  
  
This looks promising I though with a smile and switched to the feed, and there before me eyes sat a Jedi, meditating.  
  
He was young, probably no more than 16 or 17, and a human.  
  
I matched the camera to the room it was in on the schematics and made my way into the ventilation shaft. What do I care if they find the feed open? I'll be long gone.  
  
I went through the shaft, once again in stealth, for what seemed like days.  
  
Another Jedi will fall to me I thought, more prestige, closer to becoming a true assassin.  
  
I arrived over his room and heard a voice, a voice not his, a female voice.  
  
"You're time has come Jedi, no more assassins will fall because of your sensitivity" she said in a mocking tone of voice.  
  
This was my mark, and no one was going to take it from me, fellow Sith or no, this woman is dead.  
  
I dropped through the grate and took aim for her head as she turned around, clearly taken completely off guard as her lightsaber clattered to the floor.  
  
"No more to his sensitivity but one more to mine" I said as my fingers tensed on the triggers.  
  
"R...Rane?" she stammered. Now it was my turn to be taken off guard.  
  
"You know who I am? How? "  
  
"You weren't supposed to make it this far, how did yo..."  
  
I cut her off "What do you mean I wasn't supposed to make it this far? What the hell is this?"  
  
I glanced around the room, behind me 3 Republic elites lay dead.  
  
2 killed with a lightsaber, the other killed with a blast of lightening, issued from the hand of a force user.  
  
Now things really weren't adding up, no force powers he said, but this one, clearly a Sith, had used one and remained undiscovered.  
  
No lightsabers he said, they would be ineffective, but those guards had clearly been killed with a lightsaber, no sword cuts like that, not to mention that no sword cauterizes wounds like a lightsaber, there was no blood.  
  
I saw her fingers move and said harshly "One move and your dead, now explain to me what is going on, and choose your words carefully, they may be your last."  
  
"Rane' she said "you weren't supposed to make it this far, but you have, you have demonstrated prowess far beyond what Fenox expected."  
  
"Fenox sent you?" I said in near disbelief.  
  
"No, Master Velion sent me, to kill the lead scientist and this Jedi"  
  
"That's what I was sent to do" I said.  
  
She looked at me with a surprisingly compassionate look, "Without your saber, your best weapon, and without use of the Force? No Rane, you were sent here to die.  
  
You are talented, very talented with a lightsaber, Fenox was afraid you would soon kill him for his position, Arkus was one of the few who had ever beaten Fenox in a duel, not to the death mind you, and he got lucky, but a duel nonetheless, when you defeated Arkus so easily he got worried. You were sent here to die, to secure his position."  
  
The old feelings, the ones of hate, the ones of anger, were swelling inside me now.  
  
What she said made sense, I knew of a duel between Arkus and Fenox, but the outcome was never told, I assumed it was because Arkus didn't want to be seen as weak...but it was Fenox who lost...  
  
He sent me, his apprentice, to die.  
  
I was the one who had been deceived...  
  
I threw my pistols to the ground and drew my sword, shoved the Dark Jedi out of my way and executed the last order to kill.  
  
I then turned my sword on her, but before I could speak, she broke in  
  
"Fenox tried to have Morgana killed, Velion found out and sent some of his knights to protect her, they killed Fenox's assassin, but Master Velion's own apprentice was killed in battle.  
  
He needs a new apprentice, he is willing to help you kill Fenox, he will take you as his apprentice, make you an assassin Rane"  
  
Once again she was making sense, but at the moment I was far to angry to process rational thought, not only had he tried to have me killed, Morgana too, right now I would take anyones offer to kill Fenox.  
  
Velion was a true assassin, Fenox was just a great swordsman, that is why I was given to him as an apprentice.  
  
"Tell me how to contact him" I ordered her.  
  
She complied, and brought him up on a holopad.  
  
"Rane...you're alive...Arkus would be proud." He said.  
  
"By now you must have figured out your master's plot?  
  
He doesn't see your true potential, I do, I will help you defeat him"  
  
I thought...this must be a trap, if I kill Fenox, if I could, Velion will just deal me off...but why? I thought about this more, Velion would have no motive, I could be assimilated, another knight to serve under him, and its not like Velion would become head of the academy, Uthar Wynn was still in power, and Lady Revan had him under heavy guard.  
  
Arkus was only an apprentice, a damn good one, but just an apprentice.  
  
The loss of one apprentice was no reason to kill another master.  
  
Too much risk involved.  
  
But to eliminate an old enemy and gain his apprentice, make him your apprentice, learn your old enemies secrets.  
  
Velion was being truthful...he would help me, maybe only to help himself, but help me nonetheless.  
  
"I will make you an assassin in our order Rane, I know you want that"  
  
His voice brought me back.  
  
"You can have your revenge, assure the safety of your dear Morgana, and become what you've wanted to become for so long, all in one night."  
  
All this hate, all this anger, it empowered me, but I hated it all the same.  
  
Morgana made the hate go away...if not for me, I would do this for her, she had done more for me than she could imagine.  
  
"I accept, Master Velion." I said.  
  
"Very well, I shall make preparations then."  
  
One question remained in my mind. "How are we to kill him Master Velion?"  
  
I asked "Fenox is one of the greatest swordsmen in the last half century, I cannot kill him, neither can you"  
  
"A valid question young Rane, you think ahead, something that may very well save your life.  
  
I shall have him poisoned, we will attack in a group, some may fall, but together we will overwhelm him".  
  
"Very well" I said.  
  
"Now before you I go, there is someone I imagine you would like to speak to..."  
  
His image disappeared and Morgana's face came into view.  
  
I saw it and I began to calm, my mind began to slow its racing pace.  
  
Tender words were exchanged, and the hate faded, at least for now.  
  
After we had said our goodbyes, Velion reappeared and told me he had aaranged for the poisoning, I had 3 days to return.  
  
"I look forward to taking you as my apprentice, and making you the assassin you deserve to be"  
  
With that he disappeared and I cast a glance at the Dark Jedi beside me.  
  
"We should be leaving" she said.  
  
"As soon as I set these beacons" I said as I kneeled to activate them.  
  
Once the beacon was active I led the Dark Jedi out the way I had come in, used the rope to lower myself onto the ground and waited as she did the same, we activated our stealth units and went towards the forest.  
  
Half an hour later I sat watching the fire burn the last remnants of the facility, the gunship strike had been quick and devastating, nothing living left to speak of.  
  
It captivated me, the fire burning, must as the fire burned inside me, the fire of hate, fueled by the lust for revenge.  
  
Fenox will pay I thought, I will make sure of this.  
  
A gunship landed in the clearing and I stepped aboard along with the other Dark Jedi.  
  
I sat and stared out at the night sky, I had 3 days until I was back to Korriban, the fire wouldn't die in 3 days, I could let it go for now.  
  
I leaned back and rested my head on the back wall of the gunship and thought...to betrayals in the past, the first betrayal, by my father.  
  
As always the thoughts of him were banished from my mind, and drifted off to the one who could calm my heart and mind, the one who I longed to hold again, the one who can take the hate from my heart...and fill it with something else...with something I thought I was no longer capable of feeling...it was time to quit lying to myself, its not something to be afraid of, it is powerful, and it sets me free...it has to be love. 


	6. Chapter 6 Lessons Learned

CH. VI – Lessons Learned  
  
The ship we were aboard made its final pass in the dark Korriban night sky.  
  
I was reviewing the plan in my head, I knew it well by now.  
  
Velion had gone over it with me on the return trip.  
  
Fenox would be poisoned at dinner and when he retuned to his room weakened and in dire pain from the poison, we would strike.  
  
I was to go in first, in stealth, before he retuned and observe him until the others arrived and to take his lightsaber if at all possible. With his lightsaber gone the mighty Fenox would pose no threat, he was as inept at using the force offensively as Morgana was at combat. And care for her as I do, that's pretty bad...  
  
The ship touched down and we stepped off, I looked around the bay and saw no one, except for the Dark Jedi who had been sent to finish what I started at the research facility.  
  
She would be there for the kill as well, another to our number, that makes 5 there to take Fenox down.  
  
Velion, myself, and 3 Dark Jedi under Velion...I had been promised the killing blow, Velion simply wanted to see his old enemy dead and he cared not who did it, besides, for me it was personal.  
  
Morgana was supposed to be there, but then it was decided against, she would only get in the way. As I said earlier she was inept at combat and Velion had to pull some strings for me to keep her off the list of apprentices who weren't going anywhere fast...those apprentices had a way of disappearing, and those among the Sith who disappear do not often return.  
  
I made my way down the halls of the academy, silent as the grave.  
  
I reached my old master's room and entered the code to the lock, I had known it for years, ever since I came under his him.  
  
I entered the room and looked around, making sure I was alone.  
  
I walked to the wall where his lightsaber was kept and took it from the wall, he was truly foolish to leave his weapon in his room, to leave himself unarmed when death could come from nowhere as it was about to.  
  
His error, our blessing...  
  
I took the saber and placed it in my robes, it was a masterfully built weapon, truly a marvel of design among lightsabers and it would be mine in a few short minutes.  
  
I waited in silence, staring at the door, wondering what the confrontation would be like, what would be said, how long it would last.  
  
There would be no questions, but there would be an answer, him answering to me, for his crimes against me and Morgana, against Arkus as well.  
  
I cleared my mind for battle, and began to focus all my hate, all my anger, just as he had told me all these years, to focus it and use it, like I used it against my father when he did the same thing Fenox had done, only he had succeeded, he had deceived me and killed the only thing that meant anything to me.  
  
My father had fallen at my feet, Fenox's fate would be no different.  
  
Another tale for another time I thought to myself, I must keep my mind in the present and on why I am here...to kill yet another weakling.  
  
Fenox...a weakling...the thought of it filled me with feelings of power, if Fenox was so great and was below me, how powerful was I?  
  
Quite powerful to be sure and under Velion, one of the true great Sith assassins, I could become greater. Before I had only desired to become an assassin, but now, with Fenox dead, I wanted more, to be in the service of Lady Revan herself, I wanted my name immortalized in the Valley of the Dark Lords, to be remembered amongst the names of our honored dead...Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Exar Kun...  
  
But Fenox wasn't dead...yet and I was still only a knight.  
  
The door sliding open brought me back to reality and I laid eyes on my old master, pail and hobbling, pathetic looking.  
  
I could handle him myself I though, he had no weapon, I had the advantage here, he didn't even know I was still alive, one quick strike could do the deed.  
  
I watched him sit down and grasp his stomach, I could no longer stand it, he had betrayed me, tried to take Morgana's life and mine as well.  
  
Just as every mark he had given me before, when his time came he would die by my hand, and his time had come.  
  
"I did as you asked Master" I said as I stepped from the shadow and saw him fall into a state of terror I hadn't seen before, not on any of my marks, no one.  
  
I loosed lightening from my fingers and blew out the lights as soon as I was done speaking those words, and the room went black.  
  
"R...R...Rane?" he stammered "You're...alive?"  
  
"Yes master, I am" he was becoming more and more afraid by the second, I could tell.  
  
"I know what you did, the attack on Morgana, I know what you planned to do, have me die in that forest? You though I wouldn't notice the motion sensors did you?  
  
Didn't think I could find a way around them?  
  
You obviously underestimated me master. But it doesn't matter now, now you've learned just how resourceful I am, and just how deadly I can be"  
  
I could hear his breathing louder than ever, he was afraid of his apprentice, pathetic...  
  
"Looks like there is a thing or two you could learn from me, from a true assassin, never ever, leave survivors".  
  
"And another lesson" I said as I grabbed him by the hair from behind and wrenched his neck backwards "is to never leave yourself open...or unarmed"  
  
I waved his lightsaber in front of his face and threw it across the room.  
  
I heard it clatter to the ground on the other side, and he heard it to, the slight but distinct moan of a man in fear of his life issued from his lips.  
  
"Coward!" I yelled at him "You do nothing to defend yourself?  
  
the time has come...Fenox...for the master to become the apprentice, and I shall teach you your final lesson"  
  
"I will not bow to you" he managed "You are not the master here".  
  
I laughed.  
  
"No?" I said and sent a pulse of force lightening into him and he began to drop, another pulse and he was kneeling before me.  
  
"Then why are you bowing fool?"  
  
He did not reply.  
  
"Why?" I demanded and drove my knee into his back.  
  
"B...because...you, you are stronger than I" he stammered.  
  
I released my grip and his hair and backed off a few steps.  
  
"Very good, you have learned your final lesson...I have nothing left to teach you"  
  
I smirked as I said it and went on "I have nothing left to say to you but this...Your time has come"  
  
"P...Please...Rane, mercy, show some mercy, to the one who taught you all you know"  
  
"Mercy? Sith do not show mercy master, do you remember teaching me that?  
  
Do you remember teaching me where to strike to inflict the most pain possible?  
  
Do you remember promising me that you would teach me all you could and make me all that I could be under you?  
  
You have, and I thank you for it master, but you taught me something else, my final lesson...that you were afraid, fear is weakness, and the weak will not survive, so master, I grow tired of these words and your time has come, so with these words I shall leave you...no, you shall leave me, and this world...Goodbye Master"  
  
The sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air and silenced his scream.....  
  
And the room went quiet.  
  
Only the humming of my saber could be heard and its glow was the only light in the room.  
  
In dying, Fenox had taught me all he could, that the strong must survive and not only survive, dominate.  
  
Another lesson learned, another life taken...  
  
The door to Fenox's room opened and Velion stood in the doorway, looking into the dark.  
  
As the silhouette holding the lightsaber moved towards him he tensed but saw my face in the light from the hallway.  
  
"It is done" I said as I kneeled "Master"... 


End file.
